Happy New Terrarium! A Simple DIY to Transform Your 2011

Posted by Helia on Jan 6, 2011 in News | 1 comment

So, it’s that totally meh time between the New Year hangover and anything fun happening in 2011. It’s always miserable, every year. I don’t know why we all aren’t allowed to take January off to go somewhere hot and banish our Vitamin D deficiency, or somewhere really cold to up the fun quota by playing in the snow!

Anyway, ignore all those boring ‘eat less, work more’ resolutions you made. Here’s a simple crafty DIY to transform your new year.

Less work, more zen

If you live in a confined space with no garden, you appreciate any little bit of flora and fauna you can get – even if that means the moss growing on the windowsill and the big spider that lives above the stairs. However, there is an easier way to instill some of the great outdoors into your home, even though it might include some moss… make yourself a terrarium!

A what now?

A terrarium is an ecosystem of plants in a tiny space, designed to increase your inner peace when you live in a shoebox in the middle of a dirty polluted city. Think of it as a miniature world that you can create and populate at your whim – with toys as well as plants.

How do I make one?

You’ll need a couple of things. They’re pretty much all regular household bits and pieces, though you can invest a little more, depending on how spectacular you want your little world to be!

• Glass container (anything will do – as inspiration, how about a glass jar / container / empty goldfish bowl?)
• Potting compost
• Gravel
• Small stones, shells, toys – things for decoration
• Activated charcoal (available from aquarium shops or pet shops)
• Spaghnum moss
• If you like, terrarium plants (some good ones are small ferns, lucky bamboo, club moss and creeping fig)

Steps

• Clean your container. If your container has a lid you want to reuse, you could paint over any marks or writing on the lid and pretty the thing up a bit. If your container has a sticker, soak it in warm soapy water – try to use an environmentally friendly washing up liquid like Ecover, if you can – and use a steel scourer to scrub off the label, which should come off in the water. Try and find a glass container with a wide mouth, which will make it easier to put things in it. It’s possible to make terrariums in thin neck bottles, but wide mouths make it easier.
• Place a handful of gravel in the bottom of the jar. You’re aiming for about 1-2 inches of coverage
• Then add a thin layer of the activated charcoal. This acts as a filtering system, filtering any water as it flows down and up between the soil and the pebbles at the bottom. It will also stop your terrarium smelling bad!
• Add the soil. You should aim for around four inches of soil, but it depends on how deep your container is.
• Now, it’s time to arrange! You need to find the perfect blend of moss, plants, larger stones and decorative items. It can be tricky to move stuff around if you jar is small, so use a blunt kitchen knife to help you. If you’re stuck for inspiration with your decorative items, think about a theme to follow. As we’re now heading towards Valentine’s Day (eep!), you could consider a love theme – using tiny plastic red hearts to decorate your little kingdom. Cake toppers make brilliant decorations – you could try a love bird theme, a wedding theme, or even a cupcake theme!
• Now you need to water everything in. Make sure you only water it lightly, but you want to see a bit of water down at the pebbles at the bottom. Then screw on the lid – and your terrarium is ready to go!

Caring for your miniature world

It won’t need watering more than once every couple of weeks – use a spray bottle to keep things nice and moist. You want a bit of moisture in there – but if it starts looking like the San Francisco hills (i.e. – major fog), you will need to leave the lid off to let some moisture out of there. Don’t add any liquid fertiliser – the idea is that your plants are growing very very slowly. Too much growth stimulation and they’ll take over!

Photography: Wendiland, Far Out Flora and wicked.wicked